This blog compiles some notes and observations from one average guy's journey of life, faith and thought, along with some harvests from my reading (both on-line and in print). Learning to follow Jesus is a journey; come join me on the never-ending adventure!

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Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Root and Fruit of the Problem

What is the root of all sin? Pride? Greed? No, it is Unbelief - not believing the good news, according to Tullian Tchvidjian

Temptation is a false promise–a promise that doesn’t deliver. When we
give into temptation, we are believing a lie. In the moment that we’re
being tempted to do something, say something, or believe something,
there is a deeper temptation happening under the surface. This may come
as a surprise to you, but temptation has more to do with belief than it
does behavior. Every temptation to sin (going all the way back to the
Garden of Eden) is, at it’s root, a temptation to disbelieve the
gospel.

When we are being tempted, we are being enticed to purchase something
we think we need in order to escape the judgement of emptiness. On the
surface, the bait might be lust, anger, greed, self-pity, defensiveness,
entitlement, revenge, having to win, and so on. But the only reason we
take the bait is because we think it will satisfy our deeper hunger for
meaning, freedom, validation, respect, empowerment, affection, a sense
of identity, worth, and so on.

So, here’s the connection between sinning (the fruit of the problem)
and unbelief (the root of the problem): our failure to lay aside the sin
that so easily entangles is the direct result of our refusal to
believe in the rich provisional resources that are already ours in
Christ–we’re not believing that, by virtue of our Spirit-wrought union
with Christ, everything we need and long for, we already possess. John Calvin rightly said that, “Christians are in perpetual conflict with their own unbelief.”

Much more at the link. I could spend many hours thinking through the meaning and implications of this brief quote ..... and probably should!